If you suffered an allergic reaction to penicillin because a medical professional breached the duty of care they owed you, you may be eligible to claim compensation. In this guide, we’ll be looking at information such as the time limits you must adhere to and some of the evidence that can help support your case.
Allergic reaction to penicillin claims guide
In addition to providing information about criteria you must meet in order to claim, we discuss how compensation is calculated for wrongly prescribed medication claims. We also discuss how your potential claim could benefit from the services offered by a solicitor.
Read on for more information. You can also get in touch with our team of advisors by using the contact information provided below. Speaking with someone on our team could give you an idea of how much your claim is worth. Contact us by:
- Completing the contact us form on our website
- Calling us on 0113 460 1216
- Speaking with an advisor using the chatbox below
Select A Section
- When Can You Claim For An Allergic Reaction To Penicillin?
- When Could Medical Negligence Lead To You Suffering An Allergic Reaction To Penicillin?
- Potential Compensation For Medical Negligence
- Evidence When Claiming Compensation For An Allergic Reaction
- Make A No Win No Fee Claim Using Our Panel Of Medical Negligence Solicitors
- Learn More About Wrong Prescription Claims
When Can You Claim For An Allergic Reaction To Penicillin?
Medical professionals owe an automatic duty of care to their patients. This duty of care means they are obligated to provide a standard of care that doesn’t fall below an acceptable level. If they provide care that falls below this level and a patient experiences avoidable and unnecessary harm as a result, then this is an example of medical negligence.
You may be able to claim after having an allergic reaction to penicillin if you can prove that it occurred due to medical negligence and that you were harmed as a result. This means you need to show that:
- A healthcare provider owed you a duty of care
- This duty of care was breached
- Due to this breach, you experienced unnecessary or avoidable harm
If you aren’t sure whether your circumstances make you eligible to claim, use the information provided above to contact our advisors. Someone from our team can tell you more about claiming for the harm caused by negligent medication errors.
When Could Medical Negligence Lead To You Suffering An Allergic Reaction To Penicillin?
Penicillin is one of the antibiotics that medical professionals use to prevent or treat infections. It’s possible to have an allergy to this medication. A patient suffering from a reaction to penicillin could experience symptoms that include a rash, coughing or other breathing difficulties. In severe allergic reactions, they could go into anaphylaxis, which could cut off blood circulation to the brain and other organs, causing damage.
Below, we’ve provided some examples of how a patient could experience an allergic reaction to penicillin in a medical setting:
- You could be given the wrong medication by a pharmacy because the pharmacist misread your prescription.
- Your penicillin allergy may be listed in your medical records, but your doctor does not check these files before prescribing you a certain medication.
- A hospital medication error could occur if your patient files are mixed up with those of another person. You could mistakenly receive medication prescribed to someone else.
It’s important to realise that simply having an allergic reaction will not necessarily mean that you’re eligible for compensation. In order for a claim to succeed, you must be able to show how a medical professional breached their duty of care, and that your allergic reaction occurred as a result of this failing. For example, if you have an unknown allergy to penicillin and are prescribed it, you could have a reaction, but this would not be a result of negligence.
Speak to our advisors to find out about claiming after medication errors by nurses, doctors, or other healthcare providers. One of our team members can provide legal advice about your own circumstances.
Is There A Time Limit When Claiming For Medical Negligence?
As per The Limitation Act 1980, there are time limits that apply to medical negligence claims. They should begin:
- Within three years of medical negligence occurring; or
- Within three years of the date you realised your harm is connected with a breach of duty of care. This is called the date of knowledge.
Importantly, there are some exceptions to these time limits. For instance, it’s suspended for someone under the age of eighteen and resumes once they come of age, at which point they have 3 years to claim. The courts may also appoint a litigation friend to make a claim on behalf of the individual while they can’t do this themselves.
Speak to our advisors if you experienced an allergic reaction due to being given the incorrect prescription because of a medical professional’s breach of duty of care. Our team can tell you more about the exceptions that exist for the time limits described above.
Potential Compensation For Medical Negligence
If your claim for an allergic reaction to penicillin is successful, you will be awarded compensation that could include up to two heads of claim. The first of these is called general damages, a head of claim that aims to compensate claimants for the unnecessary suffering or pain they experienced as a result of negligent medical care.
In the following section, we’ve provided a table with figures taken from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), which is a document that solicitors use to assign value to the general damages portion of a claim. It’s important to remember the figures shown below are not guaranteed. This is because every claim is calculated based on the exact circumstances of a claimant, and the JCG cannot account for all these variables.
JCG Compensation Bracket Figures For General Damages
| Harm | Severity | Potential Compensation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brain damage | Very severe | £282,010 to £403,990 | Little or no meaningful interaction with the world around, little or no language function. Full time care required. |
| Brain damage | Moderately severe | £219,070 to £282,010 | Very serious disabilities that could be physical or cognitive. Constant professional care required because of substantial dependence. |
| Brain damage | Moderate (i) | £150,110 to £219,070 | Moderate to severe intellectual impact. Change in personality and impact on senses and speech. |
| Kidney | Serious | £169,400 to £210,400 | Serious damage to both kidneys or where they've been lost. |
| Kidney | Loss (one kidney) | £30,770 to £44,880 | One kidney has been lost but the other remained unaffected. |
| Spleen | Loss | £20,800 to £26,290 | Ongoing risk of internal infection. |
| Spleen | Minimal | £4,350 to £8,640 | Risks present in more serious cases aren't present here, or if they are they're reduced. |
Special Damages When Claiming For Prescription Negligence
Special damages are a second head of claim, intended to reimburse claimants for financial losses they’ve experienced as a result of negligence. On providing evidence of these losses, you could be entitled to receive a payout for:
- Loss of earnings
- Cost of care
- Prescription medications
Speak to our advisors to get a more personalised estimate of your potential compensation for prescription errors. We’ll discuss useful evidence in the following section.
Evidence When Claiming Compensation For An Allergic Reaction
In order for your claim to succeed, you must provide evidence showing that your allergic reaction to penicillin occurred due to a substandard level of medical care. To claim for special damages, you must also provide evidence of the financial losses you experienced.
In terms of showing that inadequate medical care negatively impacted your health, you can provide evidence such as:
- A symptoms diary, which details your physical and psychological experiences
- Copies of your medical records
- A record of the hospitals you’ve attended, dates you received treatment, and the names of healthcare providers you’ve seen.
Evidence for special damages could include:
- Bank statements
- Invoices
- Receipts
- Payslips from your employer showing lost earnings
If you’re struggling with gathering evidence to support your claim, contact our advisors. They may be able to put you in contact with one of the solicitors on our panel, who can assist you with gathering any evidence to strengthen your claim.
Make A No Win No Fee Claim Using Our Panel Of Medical Negligence Solicitors
The solicitors on our panel can offer to work under a type of No Win No Fee agreement known as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). Under the terms of this agreement, you won’t be expected to pay your solicitor’s fees if your claim ends unsuccessfully. As well as this, you won’t be asked to pay for the work they do whilst your claim is ongoing.
On the other hand, if your claim for medical negligence succeeds, your solicitor will take a success fee at the end of the claim. This is a percentage of your settlement, legally capped by the Conditional Fees Agreements Order 2013.
If you’d like to discuss the claims process for medication errors in healthcare, get in touch with our helpline. Our advisors are available 24/7. Reach us by:
- Completing the contact us form on our website
- Calling us on 0113 460 1216
- Speaking with an advisor using the chatbox below
Learn More About Wrong Prescription Claims
More of our guides can be found below:
- Medication Errors in Care Homes – Could I Claim?
- Deaths From Medication Errors – Can You Claim?
- Compensation Claims For Never Events
Additionally, you can use the following links to learn more from external sources:
- Medicines Information – NHS
- Deciding If It’s Safe To Prescribe – General Medical Council (GMC)
- Standards For Pharmacists – General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
If you’d like to learn more about how to make a claim after an allergic reaction to penicillin, speak to our team today.
Writer Louis Pocket
Publisher Morgan Filly/ Fern Smith
